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Malaysian MP says men have affairs because wives 'neglect' their duty in bed
Agence France Presse - April 7, 2011
Malaysian men have extramarital sex because of "wives who neglect their responsibilities" to their husbands, a Malaysian lawmaker told Parliament on Thursday, outraging women's groups.
"Husbands driving home after work see things that are sexually arousing and go to their wives to ease their urges," said independent lawmaker Ibrahim Ali, according to online portal Malaysiakini.
"But when they come home to their wives, they will say, 'wait, I'm cooking,' or 'wait, I'm getting ready to visit relatives'," Ibrahim said.
"In Islam, wives are supposed to stop everything to fulfill their husband's demands." Ali heads Perkasa, a right-wing Malay nationalist group seeking to protect ethnic Malay dominance in politics.
His strident comments came as he asked about plans by the government's religious development department to educate wives on their responsibilities.
Wives failing in their duties pushed men to go to "private places to satisfy their urges", he said. An aide to the lawmaker confirmed the remarks but declined further comment.
His comments prompted fury among women's groups in a nation with a growing sex industry and a problem with human trafficking. Women's Aid Organisation chief Ivy Josiah said Ibrahim's comments were unacceptable for a parliamentarian.
"I am appalled as he equates women to being a sex toy and what is worse is that he uses religion to try and justify his position," she told AFP. "The comments not only show that Ibrahim Ali is a Malay supremacist but a male supremacist as well."
Rights group Tenaganita, who monitor issues of human trafficking and abuse, said such sentiments were one of the causes of human trafficking in the country.
"Because people like Ibrahim Ali believe it is their right to get sex anytime from their wives, or otherwise seek it from elsewhere, that's why you have a growing sex industry and we see such human trafficking cases," senior coordinator Aegile fernandez told AFP.
Last March, the government launched a national plan against human trafficking as the country moves to quash its image as a transit point for traffickers.
With one of Asia's largest populations of foreign labour, Malaysia relies on illegal and legal migrants to work as domestic servants, in plantations, factories and to service the local sex industry.
Malaysian lawmakers also clashed with women's groups last month after a government parliamentarian claimed women were "slow" at the wheel and "oblivious" on the roads.
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